News Updates - July 30, 2008

Local building departments have online form to change information

The division's Jurisdictional
Change online form is back up and running. The division maintains
a Directory
of Responsibility on its website. The directory contains contact
information for the jurisdictions' building and planning departments.
This is the one of the first places the public is directed to
when trying to find information about their local building department
on the division's Web site.

Your jurisdiction is encouraged to review the information on
the Directory of Responsibility to verify that it is current.
If your department has a new building official or changes to your
contact information you can submit changes to BCD online. Take
the time today to check it out.

Regional forum well attended in Medford

Over forty architects, building department staff members and
home builders attended the newest version of BCD's regional forums.
The southern Oregon gathering, held at the Medford city library,
was formatted differently then BCD forums in the past. Instead
of a panel giving answers to audience questions, the July 29th
agenda included three speakers and information sharing. The meeting
featured BCD structural chief Richard Rogers, Department of Energy
analyst Brady Peeks and Medford architect Mark McKechnie.

Look for information on regional forums scheduled in your area
in future Local Building Department newsletters.

Online OESC code-change course

The division will be delivering another online training in September.
The Oregon Electrical Specialty Code Code-Change course will be
offered on Tuesday, September 16, 2008. Dennis Clements and John
Powell will be the instructors for the class. Keep updated on
class time and registration information in future issues of this
newsletter.

New Statewide Alternate Method adopted by Building Codes Division

The Building Codes Division adopted Statewide
Alternate Method No. OESC 08-03 after the Electrical and Elevator
Board approved the scientific and technical facts of the alternate
method during its meeting of July 24, 2008. The new alternate
method allows the installation of vertical runs of weatherproof
flexible conduit as physical protection for NMB cables emerging
from crawl spaces or attics and routed to surface mounted outdoor
electrical enclosures. The board found that such installations
were acceptable and had been for several decades.

The Building Codes Division has, upon the recommendation of the
Electrical and Elevator Board, adopted OAR
918-261-0015 as a temporary rule. The rule exempts general
journeyman and class A limited energy technician licensees who
design, plan, and lay out the electrical portion of a fire protection
system for a customer from the engineer requirement of ORS 671.025.
The exemption applies only to those licensees who are employed
by an electrical contractor and acting as a signing supervisor.

Electrical design documents for a fire protection system prepared
by a general journeyman or class A limited energy technician licensee
do not require the stamp of an Oregon registered architect or
professional engineer. Eligible licensees are not subject to any
requirements for additional licenses or certificates to qualify
for the exemption.

OAR 918-261-0015 was adopted as a temporary rule to determine
if it would resolve the issues facing the division's stakeholders
as a result of OSBEELS's February 5, 2008 statement regarding
fire protection systems. The division is interested in your experiences
with the rule and will present them to the board at a subsequent
meeting. Please send your comments regarding OAR 918-261-0015
to Matt Barber, Policy Analyst, at matthew.e.barber@state.or.us.

Regional Program Services

Southern region gets regional coordinator assigned
In the last issue of the newsletter we announced the addition
to the Regional Services Program staff, Wendy Beard as regional
coordinator for the northwest Oregon region. The newest staff
responsibility update in the program is the appointment of Michael
Morter as the Southern Oregon regional coordinator. Michael is
currently serving as the Mid-Willamette Valley/Coast Regional
Coordinator and will retain those responsibilities as part of
this new assignment. He has been helping the southern region in
an interim capacity with great results.

ePermitting

Junction City goes live
Buying building permits in Lane County is now even easier and
requires less driving with the addition of Junction City to the
state's ePermitting Web site: www.BuildingPermits.Oregon.gov.

On Tuesday, July 29, 2008, Junction
City sold their first permit online making them the 21st jurisdiction
in Oregon to offer over-the-counter, non-plan review electrical,
mechanical and plumbing permits on-line. The Authorization to
Begin Work is received and can be printed by the contractor within
minutes of completing the process on the QuickPermits site.